City of Brimstone
by MoonOfPluto
Summary: Though Sebastian and Valentine are dead, Jace and Clary's story is far from over. The summoned demons are gathered at the edges of the world, waiting to spill in and destroy human life. Their journey will take them to the depths of the Infernal Worlds and beyond. Welcome to the City of Brimstone. Set after City of Glass, (how I think it should have ended).
1. Chapter 1

AN: OK, so this is what I think should be the fourth mortal instruments book. Though I enjoyed them, I thought that City of Fallen Angels and Lost Souls were dragging the series out a bit. But there were quite a few loose ends in City of Glass so I think there should have been a fourth book. I might borrow some of the things that I thought were good ideas in the next two books though, like praetor lupus and the Iron Sisters. Anyway, here it is. City of Brimstone. Hope you enjoy, and even if you don't, please leave a review.

Disclaimer: I don't own the Mortal Instruments series. Unfortunately, they belong to Cassandra Clare.

Chapter 1

"Hey Simon," Clary said, turning to the daylighter vampire. "What are we going to do now?" She brushed her long red hair away from her face and sighed. "I mean, I thought that now with Sebastian and Valentine dead, we could all live in peace, but I'm not so sure now."

"Why not?" Simon asked, looking Clary in the eye. "It's all good for you now," he said, a hint of bitterness in his voice. "You get to stay in Alicante, or the Institute, or wherever you want to go with your Shadowhunter mum, cool werewolf step-dad and Jace." He didn't describe Jace, just the word showed his annoyance at the blonde show-off Nephilim.

"Simon?" Clary asked, narrowing her eyes at him. "What do you mean? In case you didn't know, I have to kill demons and rogue downworlders. It's not exactly a happily ever after. And what are you going to do now?"

"I don't know," Simon sighed. "Sorry for snapping, it's just that I don't think my life can go back to normal now. I'm a daylighter vampire with the mark of Cain on my forehead. And I can't go home."

"Why not?" Clary asked, then she realised. "You haven't told her yet, have you? Your mum and sister?" her voice was faintly accusing and Simon winced.

"No," he admitted. "I haven't had much chance, and it never seemed like a good moment. And how to you tell your mum something like that? Just so you know, I'm a vampire. Don't worry, I can still walk in the sun and all that. Oh, and if anyone tries to harm me they bring heavenly vengeance down on themselves. That's the sort of thing you can just bring up at a family dinner," he said sarcastically.

Smiling slightly, Clary shook her head. "No, I wouldn't do it like that. Maybe it is better that she doesn't know, I guess the fewer people who know about the Mark of Cain the better."

"Maybe this is what the curse meant. The wanderer thing, that I can't interact with normal people. Just other people in the hidden Shadowhunter world." Simon shrugged. Saying it out loud seemed to make it much more final. He was cursed with the oldest recorded mark. He had to sever all ties with normal people and stay hidden in a world where most people were hunting him for various reasons. And he had to stay alive(ish) forever. Not for the first time he wondered whether it wouldn't have been better to just let Raphael kill him.

"Maybe," Clary said. She pulled him closer and gave him a hug. Simon relaxed into her warm hold and felt comforted by the fact that there was one part of his former life that hadn't been left behind. His Clary. "Remember," she said, pulling away, "that you will always have me and the Lightwoods and Luke, Maia and mum. You're not alone, Simon."

"I know. Thanks Clary. That helped a lot. So what are you going to do?" he asked.

"Go back to the Institute and train to be a Shadowhunter," Clary replied. "They're going to get a special runes expert in to help me with my power. The Lightwoods and Jace'll be teaching me all the normal Shadowhunter stuff like flips and using seraph blades and general demon killing."

"That's cool," Simon said. "I was thinking of going back to Manhattan. Isabella and Maia both want to be my girlfriend, and they're both going back. Maybe I could get a job and rent an apartment." That was another thing Simon wanted to think about. He, the scrawny nerd a few months back, now had two beautiful and powerful girls fighting over him. Maybe life wasn't so bad after all.

xXx-X-xXx

"Jace?" Alec asked, seeing his golden-haired parabatai swinging on a harness in a training room at Alicante. "What're you doing?" Jace jumped down and landed lightly on his feet from the thirty-foot drop. Alec had always envied his ability to do that, now he knew why. Jace wasn't someone he would have immediately tagged as angelic though.

"Practising flips. Why, did it look like I was doing something else?" Jace asked grinning.

"No, I guess not. Let me rephrase: why are you practicing flips?" Alec responded. "You don't need to train today. And anyway, shouldn't you be preparing for your date with Clary?"

Jace flicked his hair out of his eyes. "Do you think I should grow it long again?" he asked absently. "And was I meant to prepare? I've never had to prepare for any of my other dates. Girls just love me the way I am," he boasted.

"You love Clary," he reminded Jace. "She's not just something to play with when you get bored." Alec paused for a second. "I need to prepare for a night out with Magnus, can you help me decide what to wear? He's so.."

"Obsessed with clothing?" Jace finished. "Sure Alec. Where are you going?"

"Just for a meal out," Alec shrugged. "I'll probably go to his place afterwards. Nothing special."

"Fine. Do you have anything that would fit with Magnus' tastes? Stuff that goes with your eyes or makes your skin shine or whatever he says?"

"He gave me a nice scarf," Alec mused. "Blue. And I can wear a shirt and maybe a coat. That should be fine. Where are you taking Clary?"

"I was going to ask her to make a portal to Paris. Have a meal, wander around. Romantic evening."

"There was some demon activity around Paris," Alec warned. "Maybe you should go somewhere safer."

"Paris is safe enough," Jace said. "I can take care of Clary and she isn't so helpless herself. Besides, name one occasion where I didn't kick demon ass."

"Abbadon," Alec stated. "You should be more careful Jace. I worry about you." This was true. No matter how many times he saw Jace do amazing things, or defeat demons while being sarcastic, he would never forget the times when that didn't happen. When he got clawed by a demon when they met Clary. Abbadon. And things he had heard about, like Sebastian, or Agramon.

"You worry to much Alec. I'll be fine. I haven't died yet, have I?" A flicker of amusement seemed to pass across Jace's face for a moment and Alec wondered what it was about. His face also seemed to twist at the end slightly. He shrugged it off, Jace made comments like that all the time.

"Well don't you dare die now or get Clary killed." Despite how he disliked Clary at first, the fiery-haired girl had grown on him. He still thought she was reckless and took unnecessary risks, but he loved her almost like a sister. Besides, it was her recklessness that made her so perfect for Jace.

"I've got to go now. Tell me how your date goes," Alec said, walking out of the room.

xXx-X-xXx

"Where are you going Izzy?" asked Aline.

Isabelle tied back her black hair and turned around. "For a walk," she said shortly. "Pass me my whip," she ordered. She needed to get some steam out; she was still angry about Max. "Am I a terrible sister?" she asked suddenly. She knew the answer, of course she was. She had left Max alone so all he had for comfort was a toy when he died.

"No," Aline said firmly. "It wasn't your fault. Here," she said, handing over the gold whip.

"Thanks," Izzy said, coiling it around her wrist. "I'm going to try and find Simon. He's still upset about the mark of Cain. I've got to show him that he doesn't have to be alone." She smiled slightly. "But it's always best to be safe, I don't know when a demon might come."

"The demon towers aren't working yet, are they?"

"No. They need the blessing of the Angel to work, and we can't summon Raziel safely anymore."

"See you. I'm visiting a friend tonight. Helen Blackthorn."

"That's nice. Bye Aline."

Isabelle walked out of the house to the flat where she knew Clary, Simon and Jocelyn were staying. She knocked on the door.

"Who is it?" a male voice called.

"It's me, Izzy," she called back. "Open up Simon, it's cold out here." The door opened and Simon looked at her.

"Hi Izzy," he said surprised. "What're you doing here?"

"I got lonely," she lied. "Want to come with me for a meal?"

"Sorry Izzy, I don't think I could sit through a meal now. I can't eat, remember."

"Oh. Do you want to hunt some demons?" she asked, glad that she had brought her whip.

"OK."

They went to the outskirts of Alicante, where there were some demons left to be hunted. Isabelle quickly saw a hydra demon approaching the guards. "We've got this!" she called to them and jumped forward, drawing her whip. Simon followed her towards the demon, which turned it's heads and growled.

Izzy flicked her whip and hit a demon in the eye, while Simon ran up towards it. Its tail flicked out and hit him on the chest, throwing him back a few feet. Suddenly, the demon was thrown back almost ten meters away. The Mark of Cain was in action, Izzy realised. Sevenfold vengeance. Simon was looking shocked by this new ability.

Together, they raced up to it, Izzy brandishing her whip and raining blows on it's hide and Simon attacking it with a knife. They managed to get one of the heads off before the next hit came. It clawed Simon's arm quite badly. Almost the instant it hit, 7 huge wounds appeared on the demon, cutting to its heart. It was dead.

Simon was shell-shocked by this. "I killed it," he said slowly. "The Mark of Cain. It works."

"Let me iratze you," Izzy offered. "I know you heal quickly, but this is faster." She took out her stele and traced a rune onto his forearm. The lines spread, but unlike in a regular Shadowhunter, they were a liquid silver colour.

"What's happening?" Simon asked. "Aren't they meant to be black."

"It was an experiment," Isabelle admitted. "The Mark of Cain worked on you. It shouldn't, you're a vampire. I wanted to see if that applied to all marks."

Simon prodded the silver lines tentatively. They were cold to the touch and he found himself wondering what they were. At least the scratches on his arm were healed, he thought. But what were these silver lines?

"It should have disappeared by now," Izzy observed. "Your wound is healed."

"Maybe we should tell Clary," Simon suggested. "She's the runes expert around here."

"Fine," Izzy said as they went back into Alicante. "if she doesn't have a solution we're telling the Clave though. This could be dangerous." Simon nodded and followed her.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2:

"Hi Jace," Clary said. "You look good. For someone who died recently."

"Of course I do," Jace responded immediately. "I always look great." He smiled a smile that made half of Clary want to smack him on the head and half of her to run up and kiss him. She decided to do both, smacking him playfully on the head before bringing their lips together. They moved in unison and Clary could almost feel that they were one person. Her heart was pounding and when they finally pulled away, she hugged him.

"You're so arrogant," she murmured into his ear.

"But you love me anyway, don't you?" Jace asked. How much he had changed from the Jace she knew at first, Clary thought. That Jace thought that to love was to destroy. And he was part right, their love almost had destroyed her, going after Jace to Valentine before she knew they were brother and sister. Finding out he was on Valentine's side, finding out he was her brother. Then more recently when he was being cruel and cold to protect her.

"Of course I do. And not just because of the angel blood. Do you love me?"

"Yes, more than anything. And now that I know you, not just because of the angel blood."

"More than anything? Does this mean you love something more than yourself?" Clary pretended to gasp. "What happened to the Jace I knew?"

"He fell in love," the golden haired Shadowhunter replied. "And for our romantic evening, could I ask you to make a portal to Paris?"

"Paris?" Clary asked in surprise. She hadn't have thought he would put in so much effort: she had tagged him as more of a 'go to a demon-infested hotel, and kick ass protecting you' type guy. Then again he did take you to the institute gardens at midnight and give her a picnic and a runestone, she reminded herself. "Sure."

She pulled out her stele and drew a series of runes, thinking of all the times she had seen photos of Paris and the Eiffel tower. A shimmering portal came into existence. She held Jace's arm and they stepped through the portal, feeling the twisting that accompanied such travel.

They stepped out, Clary holding Jace's hand only partly for support. She looked around her in joy and amazement. Apart from her recent visit to Idris, Clary had never been outside of Manhattan before. Paris was such a different atmosphere. While Manhattan was built up and polluted, Paris had nice parks where families were sitting and beautiful buildings and arches.

"Welcome to the city of lovers," Jace murmured to her smiling.

"It's amazing!" Clary said. "Minus Idris, this is the first time I've been outside Manhattan. How did you know I'd like it?"

"I've been here once before," Jace explained. "With my father- I mean Valentine, not Stephen Herondale. He had business here and wanted to show me places and teach me. I wonder if he ever took Sebastian here?"

"Maybe," Clary responded. "I still don't see Valentine as the type of guy who would be seen with an eight year old child in Paris."

"He was Michael Wayland back then," Jace reminded her. "Clary- I am really a Lightwood? It's just, over the last few days I've been thinking: the Lightwoods didn't raise me. They're more friends than anything, it was Valentine who shaped me into who I am today. Stephen Herondale did nothing. Michael Wayland was just a lie."

"That's not true- you lived with them after the age of ten."

"I lived in the Institute. I trained as a Shadowhunter, from what my father taught me, not from the Lightwoods."

"You still see him as your father, don't you?" Clary said softly, resting her head on his shoulder. "Even though he killed you for his cause."

"Yes," Jace admitted. "I know it's terrible for me to say this, but I liked Valentine as a father. He would punish me, yes, but not without reason. He taught me and he wasn't too overprotective. He let me grow."

"Unlike my mother," Clary murmured bitterly. She and her mother were getting along better now, but Clary still hadn't forgiven Jocelyn and Magnus for wiping her memory. Why couldn't her mother have raised her as a Shadowhunter, teaching her to protect herself instead of hiding?

"Exactly," Jace said. "I had a happy childhood." Clary shuddered, still not understanding how a childhood with her father could be considered happy. "Which is why I am going to continue being Jace Morgenstern: I am a Morgenstern more than a Lightwood or Herondale."

"I'm going to be Clarissa Fray," Clary responded. "Because I was raised as a Fray, not a Fairchild and definitely not a Morgenstern."

There was a moment of silence between them. Jace wrapped his arm around Clary's shoulders and steered her towards a restaurant. "They serve beautiful Italian food here," he announced. "You do like Italian, don't you?"

"Yes," Clary replied. "Everybody likes pizza."

"Alec doesn't. He says the tomato sauce makes the base soggy and have a bad texture. He also dislikes melted cheese and onions."

"Rephrase: I like pizza. We don't need to know Alec's food preferences."

"Fine." They entered the restaurant and went to a table. The place seemed full of young couples like themselves eating happily and Clary wondered if any of the others had been through something like she had. Whether there were any other Shadowhunters or Downworlders. She caught a glimpse of a black rune on a man's hand. A stamina rune, she thought automatically. Maybe there was something going on here.

"Jace!" she tugged her boyfriend's sleeve. "That man," she gestured discretely to the tall man with long dark hair. "He has a stamina rune. I think he's one of us." Jace followed her gaze, then gave a mysterious smile.

"That's Nuada Argenthasta. He's quite a famous Shadowhunter. Very skilled, father had some meetings with him. There's been quite a lot of demon activity here recently, maybe that's why he's here."

"Romantic date," Clary muttered. "Hunting demons with a famous Shadowhunter. And there was me thinking you knew how to impress girls."

"I do," Jace muttered back. "Don't tell me you don't love it when I do a flip over a demon and behead it without getting any splatter on my amazing clothes."

"I don't like it when you put yourself in danger Jace. Despite what you seem to think, you are mortal."

"I know. I died and came back to life Clary. I am aware of the concept of mortality.." Jace paused. "I just chose to think it doesn't apply to me in battle with demons."

"You said that about fear," Clary reminded him.

"So I did. When was the last time you saw me afraid for myself again?"

"You were afraid for me."

"That's because I love you Clary. I get scared for other people, not myself. You know, what Agramon showed me on Valentine's ship- it was you, dead. That was my greatest fear."

"After seeing you dead on the shore of Lake Lyn, I agree. The only request I could think of was for you to be alive. You know, I could have asked for anything. World peace, to end world hunger, to kill all demons. But all I wanted was you."

"Thank you Clary. Now after all of that romantic talk, stemming from how I find danger, shall we approach Nuada of not?"

"I think we should. I bet he's here for a reason, and it may put us in danger."

They got up and walked to the tall Shadowhunter. "Nuada," Jace said, bowing his head slightly. Clary followed his example, wishing she knew more about Shadowhunters and their culture. Then she might be the one explaining to Jace, and she wouldn't have to feel so helpless in situations like this.

"Jace Wayland? Is that you?" the Shadowhunter asked, examining Jace. "And who's the lady friend?" he questioned, glancing at Clary.

"Jace Morgenstern now," Jace replied. "You must have heard of Valentine lately."

"I've heard whispers and rumours from downworlders and demons. I doubted it was true."

"It was," Clary butted in impatiently. "Clary Fray, daughter of Jocelyn Fairchild."

"Jocelyn's daughter.. But that must mean.. Valentine's child." His eyes showed a degree of ruthlessness now and suspicion towards Jace and herself. The originally friendly conversation was directed to more serious matters. "And Morgenstern is his surname," Nuada muttered glaring at Jace. "His son?" Nuada's tone was ice cold, which Clary could understand. She had seen what Valentine could do.

"Adopted son. I choose to keep the name," Jace replied, an eyebrow raised. "The one you thought to be Michael Wayland was Valentine Morgenstern."

"Are you on his side?" The question hung in the air like an old balloon, which their answer would push up or drag down. Clary knew she was supposed to answer 'hell no' but it didn't seem right. She hated Valentine for what he had done, no doubt, but he was right in that the Clave needed changing. She had a dislike of them for locking up and torturing Jace and Simon. Also, without Valentine, Jace would not be Jace.

"His methods were wrong," she answered finally. "The Angel Raziel was right to kill him."

"I see I have a lot to catch up upon," Nuada said after a moment's pause. "Perhaps I should return to Idris soon. But first, I must finish my business here."

"Which is?" Jace prompted. "Perhaps we could assist you."

"A gathering of rogue faeries," Nuada responded. "That worship the devil. The Seelie Queen has given Shadowhunters the responsibility to dispose of them. You may come."

"We will," Jace said. Clary glared at him slightly, this was supposed to be their night. He hadn't even asked if she wanted to take down rogue faeries with her and a Shadowhunter who didn't even trust her because of her blood. Nuada seemed trustworthy, but their was something off about him to her. Not like with Sebastian, she didn't think he was on Valentine's side or anything, but he didn't seem like a regular Shadowhunter.

"Fine," she muttered half-heartedly and pulled out her stele. "Protection runes?" she asked the more experienced Shadowhunters.

"Protection, Clear-sight and a balance rune would be useful," Nuada informed her. "Being Jocelyn's daughter I would expect you to know that." The unasked question about her mother hung between them for a second.

"She raised me away from the Shadow Worlds," Clary confessed. "I'm new to this... Well newish. I defeated Valentine." Those words were a last attempt to gain some respect from the Shadowhunter. If he thought she was really new he probably wouldn't let her go with Jace and would see her as a mundane.

"I thought you said the Angel killed him," Nuada replied calmly.

"He did. Valentine was summoning the angel using the mortal instruments. He used a spell which allowed him to force the angel to do one thing for him. I edited it so I was the master of the circle."

"Oh. Well done. And no training?"

"I start soon."

"Well if you've managed that, I think you can manage a few rogue faeries. And there's no better learning than learning on the job." Nuada chuckled. "I'm sure your golden boy will stop you from getting killed if necessary." He ruffled Jace's long, messy hair. It rubbed Clary up in the wrong way for some reason that he thought Jace might need to save her. She had been the one saving him recently.

"So are we going?" she asked coolly.

xXx-X-xXx

So what do you think of the Clary-Jace date and the character of Nuada? Hope you like the chapter, and please tell me what you think in a review.

-MoonOfPluto


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3:

Nuada pulled out a seraph blade and handed it to Clary, hilt first. "Umaroth," he spoke, and the seraph blade burst into blue light.

"Thanks," Clary muttered, part feeling stupid for not having her own weapon and part annoyed at having to think about bringing a weapon to a date. "So where are these faeries anyway? You said not far, where is that?"

"Just at the end of this street," Nuada replied. "A bar called Ghostlands. Faeries only."

Clary felt Jace's arm reach around her shoulder as if to protect her and she smiled gratefully. Their date may have been interrupted, but Jace was still being sort-of romantic. "So around how many will there be?" Jace asked casually, as if he'd done this hundreds of times before. Which he could easily have, Clary thought wincing, after all, one of his ninth birthday presents was a lesson in how to cut the spinal cord and pierce the heart at the same time.

"Enough to pose a threat to just one Shadowhunter. With three of us it should be fine. Maybe about seven or eight," Nuada responded to the question. "Stupid faeries think they can ally with demons without retribution. I think we should make an example of these so no faerie will do this for a long time." He pulled out a dagger and twirled at, smirking.

Clary knew that she shouldn't agree with him on this because agreeing was too much like what Valentine had said to her at Renwick: we are hunters. And sometimes that means we have to be killers too. Demon hunters, she had replied, demon killers. There's a difference. But she did and she gave Nuada a small nod.

These faeries that had allied with demons may not be demons fully by blood, they may carry the blood of angels, but they were evil. Like my brother, she thought. Sebastian had the blood of the angel as well as of demons, but that didn't stop him. He was ruined from birth, she thought, and wondered if and why faeries were different.

They did terrible things behind their facade of beauty, she reminded herself, such as making humans dance until their legs wore down to stumps. And as Jace had said, no gift from a faerie ever went unpunished with malice. Faeries enjoyed this sort of thing. Yes, they had allied with the Shadowhunters against the demons, but that was only to save their skins. They had made a home on this world and didn't want to leave it. Simple as that.

And then there were warlocks, who had one parent as a demon. Why were they different? Unlike with faeries, she knew that they were different, she only needed to look to Magnus for example. She could never imagine the sparkly warlock siding with demons to burn down the world, but then again, she had only seen him for a small part of his life. Who knew what he had done before she was even born.

"Clary?" Jace muttered. "We're here." Clary shook the thoughts of angels and demons and warlocks out of her head and gripped her glowing seraph blade tighter. "Be careful," he whispered to her. "No matter what you think, you still have very little real experience. I'll try to protect you as much as possible, but.."

"I can take care of myself," she snapped at him. "Little real experience? I saved the whole of Alicante from a demon army, not to mention that I saved your life. Without me, we wouldn't even be Shadowhunters. Oh, and if you cared about me so much, we could have one evening together without demons."

Jace opened his mouth to reply, but Nuada cut him off. "You will have to tell me more about this, it does sound interesting, but right now, we need to draw on our runes."

Clary shrugged and pulled out her stele, letting her instincts guide her to the correct shapes. Jace and Nuada finished their runes quickly and she looked at herself and the other Shadowhunters proudly. She had one rune on the inside of each arm, and one on her shoulder. She was ready to do her first official Shadowhunter task and she was going to get it right. Without someone having to protect her.

"Clary?" Jace asked, almost hesitantly for once in his life. "I'm sorry we couldn't have a normal date."

"It's fine," she replied whispering quickly. "I need to get more into being a Shadowhunter anyway."

Nuada opened the door of Ghostlands and the three Shadowhunters walked in. The place was mysterious, Clary noticed, a slight mist hanging over it and the walls covered in mirrors. There were faeries in corners and slightly hidden by the mists. If Clary was a regular mundane, she knew she wouldn't be able to see any of this. A few short months ago her coming here would probably result in being sacrificed to a demon by satanist faeries. Not anymore, she thought with determination.

"Shadowhunter!" a high pitched screech which made Clary want to jam her hands over her ears was emitted from a pale faerie with black hair and blood red eyes. She resisted the urge and held her seraph blade firmly in front of her as the faerie drew a long, thin, black dagger covered in silver runes. Clary made out runes for pain, death and unholy before the faerie leapt at her with astonishing speed and grace.

Almost instinctively, the seraph blade came up, blocking the blow. She was pushed backwards slightly and the faerie blade was heading towards her neck. Clary ducked and rolled over, blood roaring in her ears. Creaking floorboards alerted her to the faerie blade jammed into the wood beside her head. She sprung up with energy and grace she didn't know she had and kicked the faerie in the stomach, knocking him back a few feet.

It snarled, showing inhumanly white teeth and swung the dagger at her. She parried the blow with the seraph blade before an idea struck her. With her free hand, she grabbed the stele from her belt and dug the tip into the faerie's arm. It screamed in agony, the seraphic alliance of the blade burning it and Clary stabbed it in the neck with her seraph blade while it was distracted. Blood, thicker and darker than any she had seen before poured out.

She looked around for Jace and Nuada. Jace was grappling with two faeries at once, while Nuada beheaded one and turned to another. Seraph blade burning in her hands, Clary jumped, landing lightly behind one of the faeries attacking Jace and thrust her sword into its back. The same thick, dark blood came out, splattering across Clary's hands. She half-expected it to burn like demon blood did, but it didn't.

She shook it off as Jace defeated the other faerie and flipped over to join Nuada. They stood back to back, seraph blades gleaming in their hands, eyes alight with the rush of battle. Like a pair of avenging angels, Clary thought, wondering if she had looked like this too. Nuada quickly stabbed the faerie he was fighting and the last two came at them from either side.

Clary had wondered if all Shadowhunters could fight as a team before, or if their training was only to work alone. Now she knew, the way Jace and Nuada seemed to communicate without speaking was astounding. The technique spoke of hours of training, and within a minute, both attacking faeries were lying dead on the ground, eyes glassy and slimy blood covering them. Unrecognisable from the faeries she had seen, the beautiful creatures who were part angel.

"Success," Nuada muttered frowning. "Clary, pick up that dagger for me, will you?" He gestured to the first faerie Clary killed and the blade in its limp, lifeless hand. She shrugged and pried the dagger from its hand, wincing and trying to ignore the blood and already cooling flesh. She handed it to the older Shadowhunter, hilt first like she had seen Jace do. Nuada took it and examined the markings.

"Pain. Death. Unholy," he muttered, wiping the blood off the blade. "This is more serious than I thought. Now I see why the Seelie Queen didn't want to get involved."

"Why?" Clary asked curiously. "These are her subjects."

"You see this metal," Nuada replied. "It's the demonic equivalent of what seraph blades and steles are made of. These faeries didn't just worship the devil, they became his allies."

"I don't see the difference."

"It means that the fallen angel Lucifer acknowledged them. They protect, help and worship him. If something happens to them then he sends demons to hunt whoever did it."

"So we have made an enemy of Satan."

"Essentially, but as Shadowhunters I doubt he likes us anyway. It won't change your life much, but the faeries have always been more neutral to demons. It's more the principal of it that worries me."

"What?" Jace asked.

"He needs more followers. Generally these bands of faeries or whatever just worship the devil, without getting much in return. He accepted these because he needs more followers," Nuada paused. "And that means that the demons that were summoned by Valentine are still out there. On the edges of this world, waiting to break in."

"But why can't he just summon them back if he needs followers?" asked Clary frowning.

"The devil has no power outside of his realm," Jace replied. "Apparently. According to Shadowhunter mythology, Satan actually keeps most demons inside of hell where he has control over them. Of course, it is all mythology, these faeries could have just meddled with dark magic."

"But judging by the fact that angels and demons are real the most likely truth is that there is a God and Satan," Nuada said.

"And Satan apparently makes an attempt to keep demons out of the world," Jace said frowning. "While God does nothing."

"The Angel created Shadowhunters," Clary reminded him. "The world would be gone long ago if not for us."

"Perhaps, but not under orders of God," Jace said. "I'm not saying I like the devil or anything, just that he has done very little that actually harms us- in this world anyway- even if his motives are selfish."

"I guess," Clary responded. "But there is a reason that everyone thinks him evil."

"I'll report this to the Clave," Nuada muttered, seemingly deep in thought. "But the implications of this worry me. Stay safe both of you, too many Shadowhunters have been lost lately. Good luck with your training Clary, Jace- just don't be too reckless. You are mortal."

"Everyone seems to be telling me that lately," Jace said playfully. "I have no idea why."

"Jace, I knew you since you were eight. You've always been reckless."

"OK, I hope to see you again sometime Nuada," Clary said.

"You too Clary."

"Do you want me to make a portal back to Idris for us?"

"You can do that?" Nuada asked in slight surprise, his neutral expression slipping for a second. "I do need to notify the Clave, so yes, I accept your offer."

Clary nodded in response and pulled out her stele. She traced runes in midair, visualising the city of glass and the demon towers. Now that the wards were down, she could just portal in and out, which was useful for her.

xXx-X-xXx

"Magnus?" Alec asked, his deep blue eyes gazing at the warlock with slight worry. "What's wrong? You seem distracted." Alec brushed a hand through his thick, dark hair and sighed. The night out with Magnus hadn't gone exactly how he had wanted. It wasn't a happy night, Magnus seemed preoccupied and nervous.

"Nothing's wrong," the warlock responded. "Just thinking."

"About what? You know you can tell me if something is wrong. You don't have to keep it to yourself."

"Nothing's wrong Alec. Just trust me, OK? You need to start trusting me more, I don't pester you every time you are a bit quiet."

Magnus was right, Alec realised. Magnus didn't try to interfere much, he gave help when asked for it. In fact, Magnus seemed to hate the idea of getting involved with Shadowhunters and his friends. Perhaps it was a warlock thing, maybe Magnus had had a bad experience with Shadowhunters before.

Alec silently reminded himself to do more research on warlocks so he could better understand Magnus. Magnus seemed to know about Shadowhunters, but all Alec really knew about warlocks was that they had one demon parent and could perform magic because of their demon blood.

Maybe that was what was wrong, maybe one of Magnus' parents had been killed in the demon war. He had been a bit off ever since the war, Alec noticed looking back on it. Maybe that was the last chance Magnus would ever get to see his demon parent before the demon was trapped in hell.

"If you say so," he said wearily, knowing that there was little point in continuing to ask Magnus. All that would happen would be that Magnus would get annoyed with him and keep telling him that he was fine. "Any chance of you telling me what you were thinking of?"

"Just what happened in the last few months. The Angel, a demon army, it happened so fast."

"Surely you've seen things like this happen before?" Alec queried. "You are over a thousand years old."

"And there was me thinking that I didn't look a day over five hundred. Yes, I'm old. Things like that, they don't happen often. People don't see angels. Yes, people have tried to reform the Clave, but Valentine Morgenstern came closest."

"Oh," Alec said, almost disappointed that Magnus hadn't told him much. He could see that there was something worrying the sparkly warlock and he wanted to know what it was. Something that the warlock was holding back. Alec knew it would be wrong of him to pry, but his more curious side desperately wanted to know what Magnus was hiding.

"Come on," Magnus said in exasperation. "This is a date, it's supposed to be happy, not moping around talking about demons."

Alec smiled. This was more the Magnus he knew. Whatever was worrying him could be worried about later, he wasn't going to get anywhere now.

xXx-X-xXx

OK, sorry I took ages updating. Clary's more into being a Shadowhunter now, and Magnus is hiding something. Tell me what you think of this chapter please, and leave a review.

-MoonOfPluto


End file.
